Blackberry ice cream is a favorite of whiteonricecouple.com blog readers. Fresh fruit is among the many ingredients providing inspiration for ice cream makers.

There's a reason they say "We all scream for ice cream!" Show me a child, or adult for that matter, who doesn't fall for this cold, sugary treat. Seriously, I dare you.

There's nothing that conjures up summer, or the carefree days of youth, like ice cream dribbling down your hand as you take a big ol' lick from a cone. The only difference between the memories of yesteryear and the concoctions of today are the crazy flavors you're likely to find at boutique shops and artisan ice cream companies.

One such company that produces the craziest of combinations is Minneapolis' FrozBroz. Owners Ben Solberg and Erik Powers are natives of Eau Claire with a passion for inventions of the sweetest kind.

For more than two years, they've developed a new flavor every week. Solberg said their goal is to go 10 years without a single repeat. Some of their creations include honey Dijon and pretzel; blood orange quark and ginger shortbread; maple yam and marshmallow; and fire-roasted sweet corn with sea salt.

"Our weekly flavor is an ongoing quest to improve what we're doing," Solberg said. "We get inspired by culture or a technique...or a movie or song."

Past flavors include experiments with bacon, asparagus, cheddar cheese, basil and a lot of booze — vodka, stout and brandy, to name a few.

"Some are extremely out there. But people want to know what these flavors taste like in ice cream," Solberg said. "You'd be surprised how many things taste good with cream and sugar."

With so many exotic flavors under his belt, Solberg still has his favorites. "One that stands out is fennel pollen. It's caramel-y tasting with a slight hint of fennel," he said. Others he raved about include rosemary lemon bar and brown butter corn bread.

But not every creation knocks it out of the park. Solberg said they have a 90% success rate of creating winning flavors. One of their biggest flops was a squid ink ice cream, an ingredient popular in Japan.

"I was hoping to make a black vanilla," he said. "It takes a lot of black to make white black. By the time I used enough squid ink, it was very fishy tasting."

Lauren Schultz, co-owner of Milwaukee's Purple Door Ice Cream, can relate. As part of her quest with her husband, Steve, for the next great flavor, they even tried churning a pineapple ice cream. Good in theory, but she said the texture was off and the flavor was extremely sweet.

No big deal, though. They've created more than 40 flavors that have Milwaukeeans flocking to their store in the Clock Shadow building in historic Walker's Point and local grocery stores for a pint of their super-premium, 14% butterfat ice cream.

For Schultz, owning her own ice cream business has been a dream since childhood.

"I've always really loved ice cream. I have memories of going with my family in Chicago to different shops. It was a big treat for all of us," she said. "The whole idea never left me."

For the past two years, Schultz's dream has come to fruition, creating an army of new flavors in the process.

"We try to source ingredients from other local business," Schultz said. "It helps us be creative."

One example is their partnership with Milwaukee's Rishi Tea. Schultz steeps Rishi's green tea into an ice cream mix to make their popular raspberry green tea ice cream.

Their newest endeavor is with Honeypie in Bay View, where whole pieces of their famous pie will make it right into the ice cream. This is how Purple Door created blueberry pie ice cream.

Other unique flavors they've developed include chai with pink peppercorn, whiskey bacon and a new flavor called fig and black tea.

Despite the popularity of their off-beat flavors, one of their biggest sellers is still good old vanilla.

For some cooking aficionados, ice cream lets them be creative in new and exciting ways.

"We're obsessed with making many things homemade, and ice cream is just one of those fun dishes to make at home," said Todd Porter, a professional food photographer and stylist. He and his wife, Diane Cu, also publish the food and lifestyle blog White on Rice Couple.

As southern California residents, they are lucky enough to tend to a garden with fresh fruit and citrus trees, which provide much of their inspiration. Two of the most popular ice cream flavors on their blog are peppermint ice cream and blackberry ice cream.

"Our process is about highlighting fresh ingredients of the season," Cu said.

Most batches of ice cream they make follow a similar process. Milk, cream and a sweetener are combined and heated on the stove with any special flavors, such as herbs or citrus zest. They then make a custard by heating the dairy mix with eggs until it coats the back of a spoon. The mixture is strained and chilled in an ice bath before cooling completely in the refrigerator. Afterward, it is churned in their KitchenAid ice cream attachment bowl, which has a permanent location in their freezer.

In addition to seasonal fare, Porter and Cu love experimenting with alcohol. For their upcoming cookbook, they have a vanilla-rum ice cream with caramelized brown sugar apricots. Another flavor they like to make is Thomas Keller's red beet ice cream, which comes out a vibrant red.

With so many quarts churned, Porter said some of the biggest lessons he has learned have been about consistency.

"Sometimes the texture is icy or not smooth enough. It can be frustrating," he said. "But you learn from it, make some adjustments and move on. That's how you get better, sometimes by failing."

Sometimes those mistakes create the tastiest results.

Tips for churning the perfect scoop

Do take your time. Most ice cream bases should be made a day ahead. If you're using an ice cream maker attachment, the bowl should also be placed in the freezer for 24 hours.

Don't cut the fat. Ice cream is made with whole milk and heavy cream. A nonfat milk-based ice cream will have a different, less smooth texture than one that contains mostly cream.

Do keep a close eye, especially when heating milk and cream over the stove. Letting the mixture boil instead of steam will create a bitter aftertaste (unless otherwise directed in the recipe).

Don't rush the process. Using an ice cream maker, your creation will be done when the machine isn't freezing the ice cream anymore. The mixture also will begin to pull away from the sides of the machine.

Do top it off. To make your ice cream that much better, you can't go wrong with adding chopped candies, roasted nuts or chunked baked goods (like brownies and cookies).

Do pack it correctly. To prevent ice crystals from forming on your homemade masterpiece, pack the ice cream in a container and cover with parchment or wax paper to seal out the air before covering.

RECIPES

This flavor of ice cream and Guinness gingerbread are both from the "Humphry Slocombe Ice Cream Book" (Chronicle Books, 2012, $19.95).

Roasted White Chocolate and Lavender Ice Cream
Makes 1 quart

8 ounces white chocolate, chopped

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1 cup whole milk

2 tablespoons dried lavender

1 teaspoon salt

3 egg yolks

1 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Put white chocolate in a small baking dish and roast in preheated oven, stirring occasionally, until it is a uniform light brown color, about 30 minutes. It will also be very dry and crumbly. When the color is right, remove from oven and set aside.

Fill a large bowl with ice and water. Place a large, clean bowl in the ice bath.

In a large, heavy-bottomed, nonreactive saucepan over medium heat, combine cream, milk, lavender and salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until hot but not boiling.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks and sugar until well blended.

Remove cream mixture from heat. Slowly pour about half the hot cream mixture into yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Transfer yolk mixture back to saucepan with remaining cream mixture and return it to medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula, making sure to scrape bottom of saucepan so it doesn't scorch, until liquid begins to steam and you can feel the spatula scrape against bottom of the pan, 2 to 3 minutes.

Gradually add a little of the warm custard to dish with roasted chocolate and whisk together until smooth. Scrape melted chocolate mixture back into pan with remaining custard and stir to mix well. Pour it into the clean bowl in the ice bath. Let cool, stirring occasionally.

When custard is totally cool, cover and let steep and chill in refrigerator overnight. When you are ready to freeze the custard, using a rubber spatula, push it through a fine-mesh strainer into an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions. Eat immediately, or transfer to an airtight container, cover and freeze up to 1 week.

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This recipe is as hot and spicy as ice cream gets. If you'd like to take it down a notch, omit the peppercorns and red pepper flakes.

Guinness Gingerbread Ice Cream
Makes 1 quart

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon salt

3 egg yolks

1 cup sugar

1 cup Guinness stout

¼ cup molasses

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cinnamon sticks

2 whole star anise

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ cup chopped gingersnap cookies

Fill a large bowl with ice and water. Place a large, clean bowl in the ice bath.

In a large, heavy-bottomed, nonreactive saucepan over medium heat, combine cream, milk and salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until hot but not boiling.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until well blended.

Remove cream mixture from heat. Slowly pour about half the hot cream mixture into yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Transfer yolk mixture back to saucepan with remaining cream mixture and return it to medium heat. Add stout, molasses, vanilla, cinnamon sticks, star anise, peppercorns and red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula and making sure to scrape bottom of saucepan so it doesn't scorch, until liquid begins to steam and you can feel spatula scrape against bottom of pan, 2 to 3 minutes.

Remove custard from heat and immediately pour it into the clean bowl in the ice bath. Let cool, stirring occasionally.

When custard is totally cool, cover and let steep and chill in refrigerator overnight. When you are ready to freeze the custard, strain it into a bowl and stir in ground ginger and cinnamon. Transfer custard to an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions. Right afterward, fold in gingersnaps. Eat immediately, or transfer to an airtight container, cover and freeze up to 1 week.

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The perfect combination of salty and sweet, this flavor is from Jeni Britton Bauer's "Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home" (Artisan, 2011, $23.95). This recipe uses a dry-burn technique, which means water isn't added to the sugar. Caramelizing sugar dry means it goes faster, but you have to watch it more closely and be ready with your cream.

Salty Caramel Ice Cream
Makes 1 quart

2 cups whole milk (divided)

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 ½ ounces (3 tablespoons) cream cheese, room temperature

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

1 ¼ cups heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

2/3 cup sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a small bowl, mix about 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch to make a smooth slurry.

In a medium bowl, whisk cream cheese and salt until smooth.

In a measuring cup with a spout, mix cream with corn syrup.

Fill a large bowl with ice and water.

In a 4-quart saucepan, heat sugar over medium heat until it is melted and golden amber in color. Remove from heat and, stirring constantly, slowly add a bit of the cream and corn syrup mixture to the caramel: It will fizzle, pop and spurt. Stir until well-combined, then add a little more cream and stir. Keep adding cream a little at a time until all of it is incorporated.

Return pan to medium-high heat and add remaining milk. Bring to a rolling boil and boil 4 minutes. Remove from heat and gradually whisk in the cornstarch slurry.

Return to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring with a heatproof spatula, until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Remove from heat. If any caramel flecks remain, pour mixture through a sieve.

Gradually whisk hot milk mixture into cream cheese until smooth. Add vanilla and whisk. Pour mixture into a 1-gallon freezer bag and submerge the sealed bag in the ice bath. Let stand, adding more ice as necessary, until cold, about 30 minutes.

Pour into frozen ice cream canister and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions until thick and creamy.

Pack ice cream into a storage container, press parchment paper against the surface, and seal with airtight lid. Freeze in coldest part of your freezer until firm, at least 4 hours.

I'll take watermelon over ice cream any day of the year...despite your challenge to the contrary. Watermelon is far and away BETTER for a person as it's a hydrator/96% water and during hot weather far more important than being messy and sloppy and offers 40% MORE lycopene/cancer fighting capabilities(in 1 cup) than processed tomatoes so for young and old alike...what better sweet fruit than watermelon...and HEALTHY to boot?!